Metridium dianthus

Metridium dianthus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Cnidaria
Class:	Hexacorallia
Order:	Actiniaria
Family:	Metridiidae
Genus:	Metridium
Species:	M. dianthus
Binomial name
	Metridium dianthus; (Ellis, 1768)
Synonyms
	Actinia aurantiaca Jordan, 1855; Actinia dianthus Ellis, 1768; Actinia felina Linnaeus, 1767; Actinia marginata Le Sueur, 1817; Actinia pentapetala Pennant; Actinia plumosa; Actiniloba dianthus de Blainville, 1830; Cribrina plumosa Ehrenberg; Metridium fimbriatum Verrill, 1865; Metridium marginatum Milne-Edwards; Metridium plumosa; Sagartia dianthus;

Last updated August 19, 2023

Metridium dianthus is a species of sea anemone in the family Metridiidae.^[1] It is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean (including the coasts of the British Isles) and in the northeast Pacific Ocean. There is also a record from South Africa, possible resulting from an introduction.^[2]

Description

This is the largest sea anemone in the northeastern Atlantic; the smooth column can be 30 cm (12 in) in height with a pedal disc wider than this. This form is known as "dianthus" and on a large specimen, the oral disc may have a plume of several thousand tentacles some 15 cm (6 in) across, often forming several lobes. A smaller form, found most often in brackish water, is known as "pallidus" and may have two hundred tentacles and be 2.5 cm (1 in) across.^[3]

Distribution and habitat

Metridium dianthus is an adaptable, circumboreal species in the Northern Hemisphere. In the eastern Atlantic, its range extends from the Kola Peninsula in northern Russia to the Bay of Biscay, in the western Atlantic from the Arctic Circle to Delaware, and it also occurs in the northeastern Pacific. It is also present in certain locations where it has probably been introduced, including Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, South Africa and Japan. It occurs at depths down to about 100 m (330 ft), on rocks, in caves, on pebbles, on molluscs such as mussels, on wharves and jetties, on floating objects, nets and ropes. It tolerates temperatures between −1 and 20 °C (30 and 68 °F) and a range of salinities.^[3]

Ecology

Metridium dianthus is a suspension feeder, spreading its plume of tentacles and catching small organisms as they float past. These include the eggs and larvae of molluscs, polychaetes, ascidians, amphipods, copepods, barnacles, shrimps and other crustaceans, as well as foraminifera and diatoms. When there is either too strong a current, or very little water movement, it can retract both the plume of tentacles and the column.^[3]

The sexes are separate in this species and, in Scotland, spawning takes place in June and July. Batches of eggs are emitted by the female at intervals of two to ten days, not through the siphonoglyphs, as might be expected, but through slits in the body wall known as cinclides. The eggs sink to the seabed and are fertilised in the water column. The planula larvae are planktonic, before sinking to the seabed and undergoing metamorphosis into juveniles.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Anthozoa is a class of marine invertebrates which includes the sea anemones, stony corals and soft corals. Adult anthozoans are almost all attached to the seabed, while their larvae can disperse as part of the plankton. The basic unit of the adult is the polyp; this consists of a cylindrical column topped by a disc with a central mouth surrounded by tentacles. Sea anemones are mostly solitary, but the majority of corals are colonial, being formed by the budding of new polyps from an original, founding individual. Colonies are strengthened by calcium carbonate and other materials and take various massive, plate-like, bushy or leafy forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dahlia anemone</span> Species of cnidarian

The dahlia anemone is a sea anemone found in the north Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Its colour is variable, from deep red to brown or purplish, with green spots and darker tentacles. Dahlia anemones live attached to rock on the seabed from the lower tidal limit down to a depth of 100 m and also attached to other organisms. Their diet comprises small fish and crustaceans, which they immobilize by firing groups of stinging cells (cnidae) into them. Dahlia anemones are closely related to mottled anemones, and both species are usually referred to as northern red anemones.

Urticina crassicornis, commonly known as the mottled anemone, the painted anemone or the Christmas anemone, is a large and common intertidal and subtidal species of sea anemone. Its habitat includes a large portion of the coastal areas of the northern hemisphere, mainly polar regions, and it lives a solitary life for up to 80 years. Mottled anemones are similar to Dahlia anemones and both are commonly referred to as northern red anemones.

Members of the genus Metridium, also known as plumose anemones, are sea anemones found mostly in the cooler waters of the northern Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They are characterized by their numerous threadlike tentacles extending from atop a smooth cylindrical column, and can vary from a few centimeters in height up to one meter or more. In larger specimens, the oral disk becomes densely curved and frilly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea anemone</span> Marine animals of the order Actiniaria

Sea anemones are a group of predatory marine invertebrates constituting the order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the Anemone, a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classified in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, subclass Hexacorallia. As cnidarians, sea anemones are related to corals, jellyfish, tube-dwelling anemones, and Hydra. Unlike jellyfish, sea anemones do not have a medusa stage in their life cycle.

Bolocera tuediae, commonly known as the deeplet sea anemone, is a sea anemone found in the sublittoral zone of the North Sea. It was first discovered near Bewick, England by Johnston in 1832. It is distinguished by its large, hexamerous size and shedding of tentacles. The nematocysts of the anemone can have dangerous effects, including the rupturing of human blood cells. The deeplet sea anemone was observed to have a symbiotic relationship with shrimp, as they cluster around its base in both temperate and Northwest Atlantic waters.

The sandy anemone is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is native to very shallow water round the coasts of southern Africa between Luderitz and Durban.

<i>Sagartia troglodytes</i> Species of sea anemone

Sagartia troglodytes is a species of sea anemone in the family Sagartiidae, also known as the mud sagartia or the cave-dwelling anemone.

Metridium senile, or frilled anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Metridiidae. As a member of the genus Metridium, it is a type of plumose anemone and is found in the seas off north-western Europe and both the east and west coasts of North America.

Urticina eques is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is commonly known as the white-spotted rose anemone or strawberry anemone.

Metridium farcimen is a species of sea anemone in the family Metridiidae. It is commonly known as the giant plumose anemone or white-plumed anemone. It is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska down to Catalina Island, California.

The thinstripe hermit crab, Clibanarius vittatus, is a species of hermit crab in the family Diogenidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the western Atlantic Ocean.

Cerianthus membranaceus, the cylinder anemone or coloured tube anemone, is a species of large, tube-dwelling anemone in the family Cerianthidae. It is native to the Mediterranean Sea and adjoining parts of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

Diadumene cincta is a small and delicate, usually orange, sea anemone. It has a smooth slender column and up to 200 long tentacles, and normally grows to a length of up to 35 mm (1.4 in), with a base of 10 mm (0.4 in), but specimens twice this size have been recorded. Diadumene cincta is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

Gonactinia is a monotypic genus of sea anemones, and G. prolifera is the only species in the genus. It is sometimes called the storey anemone and is found on either side of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Allantactis is a monotypic genus of sea anemones, and Allantactis parasitica is the only species in the genus. This sea anemone lives at bathyal depths in the North Atlantic Ocean and has a symbiotic relationship with a gastropod mollusc.

Diadumene leucolena, commonly known as the white anemone or ghost anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Diadumenidae. It is an inconspicuous species found in the intertidal and subtidal areas of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the northern Pacific Ocean. Diadumene, "diadem-bearer", referring to the crown of tentacles, is a female form intended to bring to mind the Diadumenos, the renowned Greek sculpture of an athlete crowning himself with the victor's ribbon diadem.

Themiste pyroides is a species of unsegmented benthic marine worm in the phylum Sipuncula, the peanut worms. It occurs in the intertidal zone and shallow water in the western Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It lives in crevices and under rocks, extending its "crown" of branching tentacles into the surrounding water to feed.

Isotealia antarctica, the salmon anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is found in the southern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the waters around Antarctica. It is a filter feeder and opportunistic predator.

Actinostella flosculifera, the collared sand anemone, is a species of sea anemone in the family Actiniidae. It is found semi-immersed in the sediment in shallow water in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean.

References

1 2 3 Fautin, Daphne (2015). "Metridium dianthus (Ellis, 1768)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2 August 2018.
↑ Hiscock, K.; Wilson, E. (2007). "Plumose anemone (Metridium dianthus)". Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
1 2 3 Ziemski, Frédéric; Prouzet, Anne (9 November 2020). "Metridium dianthus (Ellis, 1768)" (in French). DORIS. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
↑ Gemmill, James F. (1920). "The Development of the Sea-Anemones Metridium dianthus (Ellis) and Adamsia palliata (Bohad)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 209 (360–371). doi:10.1098/rstb.1920.0009.

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[WoRMS-1] 1 2 3 Fautin, Daphne (2015). "Metridium dianthus (Ellis, 1768)". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 2 August 2018.

[2] Hiscock, K.; Wilson, E. (2007). "Plumose anemone (Metridium dianthus)". Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Reviews. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 5 September 2020.

[DORIS-3] 1 2 3 Ziemski, Frédéric; Prouzet, Anne (9 November 2020). "Metridium dianthus (Ellis, 1768)" (in French). DORIS. Retrieved 28 August 2021.

[4] Gemmill, James F. (1920). "The Development of the Sea-Anemones Metridium dianthus (Ellis) and Adamsia palliata (Bohad)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 209 (360–371). doi:10.1098/rstb.1920.0009.

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